AG Photographic

srichards said:
Sorry should have said. Dev only 35mm processing. Only single rolls each time though.
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Well I'll be keeping a look out for other folk's experiences hopefully they'll improve.
 
I've sent them a number of B+W rolls for dev/scan lately and while they've been slow the quality has been very good. Prices are good so will definitely use them again.
 
Becoming increasingly frustrated with these guys now.

Sent several rolls of 35mm a while ago. They were slow but got me the negatives and scans back.

I then noticed what appeared to be scan marks on the JPGs, but couldn't spot the same marks on the negatives so sent them back to be rescanned.

They then said that the marks are on the negatives (which is fine, I just couldn't magnify them to check by eye) and that they'd send them back to me. That was over a month ago now. A couple of weeks ago I chased them up and they said they'd been sent the day before/that day. Two weeks later I still haven't done anything, so I sent them an e-mail. Last time I sent them an e-mail I got no response and had to follow up by phone. If I don't get a response today/tomorrow I'll have to phone again and be less polite than normal, as this is becoming unacceptable.
 
GlennW said:
Becoming increasingly frustrated with these guys now.

Sent several rolls of 35mm a while ago. They were slow but got me the negatives and scans back.

I then noticed what appeared to be scan marks on the JPGs, but couldn't spot the same marks on the negatives so sent them back to be rescanned.

They then said that the marks are on the negatives (which is fine, I just couldn't magnify them to check by eye) and that they'd send them back to me. That was over a month ago now. A couple of weeks ago I chased them up and they said they'd been sent the day before/that day. Two weeks later I still haven't done anything, so I sent them an e-mail. Last time I sent them an e-mail I got no response and had to follow up by phone. If I don't get a response today/tomorrow I'll have to phone again and be less polite than normal, as this is becoming unacceptable.
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Do not become frustrated, we have all at sometime experienced poor service,I myself not being excluded. All I will say is that the price is good and the quality up to the standard of most if not all labs. If the marks were on the negs, what placed them there?The camera or their equipment,how knows. If you are not happy with the production of your films ask for your money back or at least a credit on future work given.
 
Not much help to those with frustrations, but yesterday afternoon I ordered some film from them (Ilford SPX - perhaps will be the subject of a separate thread at some point, working out how to use it!) and it arrived this morning. Impeccable service.
 
medwaygreen said:
Do not become frustrated, we have all at sometime experienced poor service,I myself not being excluded. All I will say is that the price is good and the quality up to the standard of most if not all labs. If the marks were on the negs, what placed them there?The camera or their equipment,how knows. If you are not happy with the production of your films ask for your money back or at least a credit on future work given.
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Despite me telling them on 3 occasions that I needed them sent to a different address due to a house move, they still sent them to the old (incorrect) address which I no longer have access to. I have a redirect setup from this old address but still have nothing. I now have to wait for a little while to see if this gets returned to them (as it's sent recorded) or put on to me. At the moment 7 rolls of negatives and a scan disc are completely lost to me and it looks a lot like I'll never see them again. I really don't think this is acceptable.

It's fair to say that my experience with them has put me off using them in future. They can't even send something to the correct address! The last two times I've e-mailed I've had no response at all and had to chase them by phone. While they're polite when I speak to them, and try and reveal what happened, they aren't making any attempts to locate them or offering anything in the way of apology. I'm pretty unhappy.
 
Another couple of weeks later and they still haven't showed up, or offered anything in response. They're forcing me to wait another month before looking into this again.

Incredibly unhappy. Have had several queries completely ignored (e-mail and voice mail requests with no contact back). Giving up all hope of ever seeing my negatives again.

Would strongly recommend not using AG in the future. They don't even seem to care about this loss of mine, no apology, just excuses.
 
That is a very poor show and sadly not unexpected.
 
I've had no problems at all with them over the course of a number of film and film developing orders. Have to say these bad experiences listed above are beginning to make me worry about using them now - and it doesn't bode well for them if happy customers are having doubts...
 
I sent some rolls of slide film for dev and scan on the first and received them today, also contacted them in the week by email for a stock query and got a reply later on that day. Can't fault them tbh
 
Have to say have received negatives back from them very quickly.
Often back before the email to say they have been dispatched.
So far so good
 
Another month gone, STILL no sign of my negatives. Nothing offered as a replacement.

Safe to say they're going on my blacklist.
 
I think after a month, I would have driven up to their shop and started asking questions face to face.

I currently have two rolls with them, including contact prints, hopefully they are back soon!
 
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Its very sad and annoying that one of the few places we can go to get stock or developing done is letting us down. I ordered 3 rolls of film from them a week last monday and in spite of their promise to despatch same day if you order before 2pm still no films....:confused:
I didn't need them urgently but in this day and age waiting 10 days for a delivery from 40 miles down the road is not really acceptable. I'm afraid that they have had one chance too many from me now and I shall go elsewhere for my films. I was going to use them for the 36 exposure challenge but thats not going to happen either now. (n)
 
In total contrast I ordered some fixer and some film from Firstcall in Tuesday night and received them today. Faultless service as always.
 
AG sound like they've really lost the plot now. Don't think I'd use them even though I've not had any serious problems. Although I have only used them twice for one film each time...
 
srichards said:
AG sound like they've really lost the plot now. Don't think I'd use them even though I've not had any serious problems. Although I have only used them twice for one film each time...
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This. They used to be really good. But these days if i need some developing done Peak get it and if i need Chems then Firstcall get it. Just too many bad tales about AG now.
 
It is a shame and I have to say this thread put me off using them. However I actually forgot about the thread and sent a batch off last week which came back within a week, all tickety boo. In their defence, they've never let me down, but I sympathise with others' bad experiences and am a bit nervous using them. It's a shame because they're big supporters of film and processing, and have a good range of products at good prices too. Hope they manage to sort things out and make a success of things, but I can only imagine folks being put off by reading this...
 
The thing is is that they know how we feel and have even responded to it on the forum, but after lots of apologies and promises nothing seems to have changed. I really want them to succeed but they won't if they carry with their current service level.

Andy
 
Andysnap said:
The thing is is that they know how we feel and have even responded to it on the forum, but after lots of apologies and promises nothing seems to have changed. I really want them to succeed but they won't if they carry with their current service level.

Andy
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Exactly this
 
We're probably all on a blacklist now, well those of us who have their real names visible on the forum! :P
 
My 2p - Haven't used AG for dev (I use Peak because I have since I started in film a few months ago and they seem really good) but I ordered a few things for my first developing last week and it all came through quickly and well packaged. It sounds to me like their developing is possibly to be avoided, but for standard shopping they're probably fine.

Businesses always come across issues. I sell books on Amazon and get the odd unhappy customer for whatever reason. Occasionally I make mistakes because I'm human. Or the bar code scanner lists the wrong version of a book. But I make sure I respond very promptly and always offer a full refund because even if the customer is wrong it's not worth a lower rating.
I measure a business not on whether they make mistakes or not (unless they make loads!) but how they deal with issues when they come up. If I have an issue with a business and they deal with it well I think no less of them. But failing to deal properly and promptly with even a reasonably small issue rings alarm bells for me.
 
Well, I e-mailed them to query if my order had been despatched, very politely I might add, on Wednesday and I still haven't had a response. If it had been my business and someone had a complaint I would at least have responded quickly.
 
thecornflake said:
I measure a business not on whether they make mistakes or not (unless they make loads!) but how they deal with issues when they come up. If I have an issue with a business and they deal with it well I think no less of them. But failing to deal properly and promptly with even a reasonably small issue rings alarm bells for me.
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I think this just about sums it up, I don't suppose for one minute that the folks on here are the only people that use AG's services but if we are any kind of cross-section of their customer base it would appear that they have a lot of disappointed customers. Just over a year ago they responded to our original concerns and suggested it was just a bit of a blip and that their service was improving, well I for one am not convinced. I do want them to succeed and I'm not out to undermine their business but I'm not going to praise them when they're not delivering the goods and I will continue to voice my concerns and warn other people about their shortcomings.

As I've stated I am going to give them one last go for the contact print challenge but I have come up with a cunning plan, I'm going to send one roll to AG to dev and contact and I'm going to dev another one myself and then send the negs to @robhooley167 to make the contact sheet for me, thanks Rob :thumbs:
 
They found enough time to tweet on a Sunday:

https://BANNED/AgPhotographic/status/488306801533018113
 
freecom2 said:
They found enough time to tweet on a Sunday:

https://BANNED/AgPhotographic/status/488306801533018113
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That explains it, they're out taking photos when they should be taking care of their customers.
 
Damn them and their twitterating..or whatever, they should working constantly on sorting out my issue.. I'm the important one here.... :crying::dummy1::facepalm::grumpy::hungover::jawdrop::jimlad:
 
Finally had a response to my enquiry... apparently the film was in transit from Europe but should be here soon. Fine, no problem with that but a) why was showing as in stock on the website? and 2) why didn't they let me know?
 
I use AG for E6 processing and for some film purchases. I did have an issue with a film order some time ago but it was resolved fairly quickly. I have always been pleased with their processing even though it has been a little slow on a couple of occasions. I do like the quality and the pricing.

Work has been somewhat manic of late and I took a roll of Tri-x a few weeks ago and just haven't had a chance to develop it. Normally I do my own B&W processing but on Sunday in between working all day at the computer I put the said roll of Tri-X in an AG mailer and put it in the village post box. The post can be slow in rural Norfolk and I was not concerned about speed given other current commitments. The post will have been picked up on Monday and to my surprise the developed film arrived through the door this PM. That is a 24 hour in lab turn around. I know this doesn't help those who have problems but I felt I needed to share a very positive experience with AG and. I hope the other issues get resolved, we need all the traditional film suppliers and processors to stay in business.
 
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Jao said:
I use AG for E6 processing and for some film purchases. I did have an issue with a film order some time ago but it was resolved fairly quickly. I have always been pleased with their processing even though it has been a little slow on a couple of occasions. I do like the quality and the pricing.

Work has been somewhat manic of late and I took a roll of Tri-x a few weeks ago and just haven't had a chance to develop it. Normally I do my own B&W processing but on Sunday in between working all day at the computer I put the said roll of Tri-X in an AG mailer and put it in the village post box. The post can be slow in rural Norfolk and I was not concerned about speed given other current commitments. The post will have been picked up on Monday and to my surprise the developed film arrived through the door this PM. That is a 24 hour in lab turn around. I know this doesn't help those who have problems but I felt I needed to share a very positive experience with AG and. I hope the other issues get resolved, we need all the traditional film suppliers and processors to stay in business.
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That's great news Adrian, thanks for letting us know. Its good to hear when a company does something well. Hopefully this is the shape of things to come.
 
OK, I have knocked them down but now I'll pick 'em up. My order for 2 packs of 120 was ready to post (next day after order as well) at the same time as the delayed 35mm so they popped them in together and only charged 1 lot of postage.

Better.....
 
Well the roll I sent Monday afternoon was in lab yesterday and it says dispatched today. Can't complain about that. It's the fastest they've ever been as normally its a week before a roll even makes it into the lab!
 
I'm sending 5 rolls of C41 today. I also have them scanned. I'll be delighted if they've speeded things up.
Won't kill me to wait on usual 11 days though.
 
Sectionate said:
I think after a month, I would have driven up to their shop and started asking questions face to face.

I currently have two rolls with them, including contact prints, hopefully they are back soon!
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I may actually have to do this, 3 weeks and counting, even after they said they would get to it Monday/Tuesday :(
 
Sectionate said:
Was told again on Monday they would get to it right away....
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:ROFLMAO:........ Sorry! I'm not being heartless but.......


Seems like AG are, atm, a bit like the old saying:

"When they're good, they're very good.
When they're not so good....they're hopeless! :D
 
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